Blue Mistress
Who: John Reagan
Where: Firestone, CO
What: 1970 Chevelle Malibu Restomod
Why: John said his “Blue Mistress” is co-owned by a friend he has known for 20 years. “Together, we teamed up to build this car.” It took them more than a year “and was a blast to create.” Components include a Chevy 454 with Edelbrock fuel injection, a TH400 trans, MSD ignition, a custom interior by TMI, Air Ride suspension with tubular A-arms, gauges from Dakota Digital, Vintage Air A/C, Boze wheels, and Wilwood brakes. “The Mistress turned out just awesome,” John said.
Saved from the Mud
Who: Nathan LaFalce
Where: Bruce Township, MI
What: 1968 Chevy Camaro
Why: Nathan’s dad found this car, and “it’s been parked next to this garage sinking into the mud since 1990.” Nathan said it’s a numbers-matching 327 engine with a PowerGlide trans. “It needs new front and rear floorpans, truck, roof, passenger door, and interior,” and it’ll be painted blue with a black interior. The plan? Woodward 2017.
Letters
The Coolest Family With the Coolest Rides
My wife and sons taking three prize possessions for a drive up around Watkins Glen and Seneca Lake: Viper GTC, Hellcat, and 1,000-mile SRT-10.
—Murray Cole, via email
No. 26
These were shot at the Daytona Motor Speedway. It was the annual Performance Driving Group event at Daytona—my first big track experience. An absolute eye-opener! I spent the last two months working out suspension issues in the rear of the car and was a little wary of how she might do, but she was nothing less than magnificent! With 510/510, she was an absolute monster on the infield track, but could hardly reach 150 on the NASCAR section straightaways. I learned that torque, traction, and vehicle attitude control rules the short-track turns, but aerodynamics and gearing are king out there on the “big dogs” track!
—Terry A. Wright, via email
Catching Up With This Olds
You featured me and my son in your WTF column last year and said to send a pic when we hit the track. Well, here we are at Santa Pod this year. The Olds ran 11.3 on the motor, but I will be hitting the 300 fogger next year and trying for the 9s. My son in the T/A ran 10.3 at 133 mph with the new AFR heads and a 200 shot of nitrous oxide, but had wheelspin off the line; still, that speed indicates the 9s are not far away. These are true street cars—we drive them the 200 miles to the track and back, uncork ’em, fit the slicks, and do battle on the strip. It doesn’t matter who wins, just as long as we get them back home again in one piece!
—Paul Dodd, via email
Where the Wild Things Grow
Saw these near an establishment in Ozark, MO. Good crop this year [haha].
—Denton Olson, via email
Burnout!!
“Mike McCurdy owns two American Motors drag-race cars. The first is a 1966 Rambler American with an AMC 401, put together by Mike. The second is a 1968 AMX with a modified AMC 390, which Mike’s son, Aaron, drives on the track. Both cars burn E85 pump gas. These burnouts were performed at the Rolling Thunder Dragstrip at Mid-America Motorplex in Pacific Junction, Iowa.”
—Sandy McCurdy, via email
Blown-Up Parts
“I have some pictures of what is left from a piston that didn’t like being in its bore anymore. The pictures show what happens when you force 20 pounds of boost to a piston, and it doesn’t like it. The piston started out in a 540 BBC with an F2 ProCharger on board. After 100 feet, the car shook a little, but I didn’t think anything of it and kept my foot in it. Then it really made some noise, I saw a bunch of smoke, and decided to abort the pass. You see the end result. The Oliver connecting rods are still in great shape, minus the affected one, but all the other seven pistons are shot. It took a few small chunks out of the bottom cylinder three and four, but didn’t get into water.
—Bryan Johnson, via email
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